The weather in New York is likely miserable tomorrow, so stay warm and dry inside a movie theater with one of these movies that opens tomorrow:
The Hannah Montana Movie*
Don't. Just don't.
Dragonball: Evolution
I've heard nothing but terrible things about this movie, which prececdes the story of the epic Dragonball Z. But maybe you should see it, because there's already a sequel in the works. Creativity, thy name is Hollywood.
The Pope's Toilet
I haven't heard much about this movie, about a small Uruguayan town planning for a visit from the Pope, but it's fairly well-rated on both Rotten Tomatoes and imdb. Plus, Fernando Meirelles, of The Constant Gardener and City of God, is one of the producers, and I trust him to be involved in a good project.
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
A documentary about an '80s hair metal band struggling to make a comback, quite like Spinal Tap meets The Wrestler. It seems both funny and kind of heartbreaking, and the soundtrack alone is probably worth the price of admission. It's gotten pretty great reviews, so on the whole I highly recommend.
Observe and Report -- Review! Exciting stuff!
Watch the trailer. Now forget everything about it (except, as Jim from TDoFS would like the point out, the awesome Yard Birds song), because this is one of the biggest casese of false advertising I've ever seen. The trailer promises an Apatow-style comedy about an underacheiving doofus in a mall, but this is way more Taxi Driver than Paul Blart.
I saw Observe and Report about two weeks ago, and it's taken me about that long to develop a clear opinion on the movie. Despite the fact that Observe and Report is about a mall cop, Blart it is not. The film, written and directed by Jody Hill (The Foot Fist Way, Eastbound and Down), offers a much darker breed of comedy, and despite the involvement of Seth Rogen, it probably won't gross half as much.
The Foot Fist Way is an intensely polarizing movie, and Observe and Report will probably be the same way. It's strange. Rogen, whom I love, plays against type as Ronnie Barnhardt, languishing in a job as head of mall security. Despite the fact that he lacks any real authority, including the right to carry a weapon, Ronnie is quite content to run his band of merry mall cops with an iron fist, and haplessly court trampy make-up counter girl Brandi (Anna Faris). That is, until a flasher brings a domineering and impatient detective (Ray Liotta) into Ronnie's mall, which sets bipolar Ronnie on an inadequacy-fueled downward spiral that is both painful and funny to watch.
As I said, the humor is dark, and often times not very overt, but it is there. Violence is also pretty prominent, and graphic. I've never laughed so hard at so violent a moment as I did at the climax of this movie. The cast is pretty solid: Rogen nails his part, despite the fact that he only gets to smoke weed once, and Faris is predictably funny, especially on a disastrous date with Ronnie. Michael Pena gets credit for being ridiculous (jeri curl, lisp) and hilarious, especially for
absolutely owning the funniest scene in the film. Danny McBride, another one of my favorites, makes a brief but wonderful appearance as "White Crackhead" that spawns one of the movies more quottable moments. Hill's direction is also great. He captures everything in a way that feels just right, but especially the final sequence, which is so bizarrely perfect that you can't help but praise him.
In short, you'll laugh, you'll cringe, you'll scratch your head and wonder what the hell just happened. But Observe and Report is a different kind of comedy that really works, and I recommend it.
Three 1/2 out of Five.
Now, on the topic of Rogen, his recent press tour has been rife with questions about his weight loss for The Green Hornet. Now, I know that there's a certain fascination with actors and their ability to completely transform themselves for their art, but some of the questions that were asked and some of the spectable that was made of him were ridiculous and rude. Isn't there a way to ask about a man's (reluctant) weight loss, especially when it's for work, that doesn't imply he was a gigantic slob before? The media, and we who voraciously consume it, is fixated on the weight of celebrities: we abuse them if they're too big, then abuse them once again when the pressure and insecurity of living under a microscope lead them to be too thin. Isn't this a little too insane? We're forcing them all into a shape that may not be natural for every single actor/actress/singer/whoever. If every one of us lived with that kind of scrutiny and pressure, we'd all be crazy... and have eating disorders. I love movies, and I want the actors I love to make more. So let's back off a little and let these people eat and live like normal humans so they can keep their health, sanity, and drive to see their image (no matter what size) plastered all over the cineplexes.
Until next time, kiddos!
Love, Amanda.
*links to the trailers
The Hannah Montana Movie*
Don't. Just don't.
Dragonball: Evolution
I've heard nothing but terrible things about this movie, which prececdes the story of the epic Dragonball Z. But maybe you should see it, because there's already a sequel in the works. Creativity, thy name is Hollywood.
The Pope's Toilet
I haven't heard much about this movie, about a small Uruguayan town planning for a visit from the Pope, but it's fairly well-rated on both Rotten Tomatoes and imdb. Plus, Fernando Meirelles, of The Constant Gardener and City of God, is one of the producers, and I trust him to be involved in a good project.
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
A documentary about an '80s hair metal band struggling to make a comback, quite like Spinal Tap meets The Wrestler. It seems both funny and kind of heartbreaking, and the soundtrack alone is probably worth the price of admission. It's gotten pretty great reviews, so on the whole I highly recommend.
Observe and Report -- Review! Exciting stuff!
Watch the trailer. Now forget everything about it (except, as Jim from TDoFS would like the point out, the awesome Yard Birds song), because this is one of the biggest casese of false advertising I've ever seen. The trailer promises an Apatow-style comedy about an underacheiving doofus in a mall, but this is way more Taxi Driver than Paul Blart.
I saw Observe and Report about two weeks ago, and it's taken me about that long to develop a clear opinion on the movie. Despite the fact that Observe and Report is about a mall cop, Blart it is not. The film, written and directed by Jody Hill (The Foot Fist Way, Eastbound and Down), offers a much darker breed of comedy, and despite the involvement of Seth Rogen, it probably won't gross half as much.
The Foot Fist Way is an intensely polarizing movie, and Observe and Report will probably be the same way. It's strange. Rogen, whom I love, plays against type as Ronnie Barnhardt, languishing in a job as head of mall security. Despite the fact that he lacks any real authority, including the right to carry a weapon, Ronnie is quite content to run his band of merry mall cops with an iron fist, and haplessly court trampy make-up counter girl Brandi (Anna Faris). That is, until a flasher brings a domineering and impatient detective (Ray Liotta) into Ronnie's mall, which sets bipolar Ronnie on an inadequacy-fueled downward spiral that is both painful and funny to watch.
As I said, the humor is dark, and often times not very overt, but it is there. Violence is also pretty prominent, and graphic. I've never laughed so hard at so violent a moment as I did at the climax of this movie. The cast is pretty solid: Rogen nails his part, despite the fact that he only gets to smoke weed once, and Faris is predictably funny, especially on a disastrous date with Ronnie. Michael Pena gets credit for being ridiculous (jeri curl, lisp) and hilarious, especially for
absolutely owning the funniest scene in the film. Danny McBride, another one of my favorites, makes a brief but wonderful appearance as "White Crackhead" that spawns one of the movies more quottable moments. Hill's direction is also great. He captures everything in a way that feels just right, but especially the final sequence, which is so bizarrely perfect that you can't help but praise him.
In short, you'll laugh, you'll cringe, you'll scratch your head and wonder what the hell just happened. But Observe and Report is a different kind of comedy that really works, and I recommend it.
Three 1/2 out of Five.
Now, on the topic of Rogen, his recent press tour has been rife with questions about his weight loss for The Green Hornet. Now, I know that there's a certain fascination with actors and their ability to completely transform themselves for their art, but some of the questions that were asked and some of the spectable that was made of him were ridiculous and rude. Isn't there a way to ask about a man's (reluctant) weight loss, especially when it's for work, that doesn't imply he was a gigantic slob before? The media, and we who voraciously consume it, is fixated on the weight of celebrities: we abuse them if they're too big, then abuse them once again when the pressure and insecurity of living under a microscope lead them to be too thin. Isn't this a little too insane? We're forcing them all into a shape that may not be natural for every single actor/actress/singer/whoever. If every one of us lived with that kind of scrutiny and pressure, we'd all be crazy... and have eating disorders. I love movies, and I want the actors I love to make more. So let's back off a little and let these people eat and live like normal humans so they can keep their health, sanity, and drive to see their image (no matter what size) plastered all over the cineplexes.
Until next time, kiddos!
Love, Amanda.
*links to the trailers
